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The Other Child: A completely addictive psychological thriller with a heart-pounding twist
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
Review of advance copy received from Publisher
👴 Motherhood, Misplaced 👴
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐️
“Love shouldn’t feel like something you have to practise.”
There are thrillers that grip you by the throat. But The Other Child is a thriller that slides quietly under your skin and stays there, pulsing. It's intimate, aching, and exquisitely unsettling.
Louise is a mother who doesn’t feel like one. Her love for Alfie is threaded with guilt, doubt, and the quiet shame no one admits to. When Jacob arrives — calmer, kinder, inexplicably familiar — something in Louise shifts. And when the odd coincidences begin to stack up, they don’t just feel improbable… they feel inevitable.
Amy Carver handles this premise with a surgeon’s precision. The horror here isn’t loud. It’s domestic. It’s whispered across neighbouring fences and hospital corridors. The same birth date. The same hospital. The same eyes as Louise’s husband, Mark. The question isn’t is this possible? — it’s what if it is?
What makes this a five-star read for me is the emotional layering. This isn’t just a twisty “what if” thriller. It’s an exploration of maternal instinct, of bonding and blame, of how fragile identity can be when it’s built around being someone’s mother. I felt Louise’s spiral — that tightening coil of obsession and desperate hope — in my bones.
The pacing is razor-sharp, but it’s the quiet moments that cut deepest. The way Louise feels more at peace beside Jacob. The guilt that follows. The impossible longing. Every fraught chapter hums with tension.
If you love the domestic unease of Lisa Jewell, the creeping dread of Claire Douglas, or the psychological twists of Andrea Mara, Amy Carver will absolutely be your next obsession.
Verdict: A chilling, emotionally charged page-turner that asks the most terrifying question a mother can face, and doesn’t shy away from the answer. I devoured it… and then sat with it, heart pounding, long after the jaw-dropping final page.
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐️
“Love shouldn’t feel like something you have to practise.”
There are thrillers that grip you by the throat. But The Other Child is a thriller that slides quietly under your skin and stays there, pulsing. It's intimate, aching, and exquisitely unsettling.
Louise is a mother who doesn’t feel like one. Her love for Alfie is threaded with guilt, doubt, and the quiet shame no one admits to. When Jacob arrives — calmer, kinder, inexplicably familiar — something in Louise shifts. And when the odd coincidences begin to stack up, they don’t just feel improbable… they feel inevitable.
Amy Carver handles this premise with a surgeon’s precision. The horror here isn’t loud. It’s domestic. It’s whispered across neighbouring fences and hospital corridors. The same birth date. The same hospital. The same eyes as Louise’s husband, Mark. The question isn’t is this possible? — it’s what if it is?
What makes this a five-star read for me is the emotional layering. This isn’t just a twisty “what if” thriller. It’s an exploration of maternal instinct, of bonding and blame, of how fragile identity can be when it’s built around being someone’s mother. I felt Louise’s spiral — that tightening coil of obsession and desperate hope — in my bones.
The pacing is razor-sharp, but it’s the quiet moments that cut deepest. The way Louise feels more at peace beside Jacob. The guilt that follows. The impossible longing. Every fraught chapter hums with tension.
If you love the domestic unease of Lisa Jewell, the creeping dread of Claire Douglas, or the psychological twists of Andrea Mara, Amy Carver will absolutely be your next obsession.
Verdict: A chilling, emotionally charged page-turner that asks the most terrifying question a mother can face, and doesn’t shy away from the answer. I devoured it… and then sat with it, heart pounding, long after the jaw-dropping final page.
Review of advance copy received from Publisher
A book with a plot that'll make you want to keep reading until you reach the conclusion.
Louise has had a rough start to motherhood, struggling to find a bond with her son Alfie. Now, three years in, she meets Harriet, her first "mum frined", who's son Jacob was born on the same day as Alfie, and who oddly seems to resemble Louise and her husband Mark, casting doubt and dark thoughts in Louise's mind and leaving her determined to find out if she took the wrong child home from the hospital.
I loved the premise of this book as soon as I saw the synopsis, but i think I went into it expecting it to be more fast paced than it started. I found the first half to be quite slowburn and initially struggled a little to connect with the main character. However, I still had that pull to keep reading and find out the conclusion, and found myself racing through the second half of the book
Amy delivers mystery and suspense through the chapters, and I enjoyed how Louise came across as somewhat of an unreliable narrator at times.
Snippets of mixed media in the form of annonomous email exchanges added to the mystry and allowed you to ponder on how them and another seemingly unconnected character would all fit in!
Overall, I'd say it was a "good" domestic thriller that does give some twists and turns towards the end.
3.5 🌟 rounded up to 4
Louise has had a rough start to motherhood, struggling to find a bond with her son Alfie. Now, three years in, she meets Harriet, her first "mum frined", who's son Jacob was born on the same day as Alfie, and who oddly seems to resemble Louise and her husband Mark, casting doubt and dark thoughts in Louise's mind and leaving her determined to find out if she took the wrong child home from the hospital.
I loved the premise of this book as soon as I saw the synopsis, but i think I went into it expecting it to be more fast paced than it started. I found the first half to be quite slowburn and initially struggled a little to connect with the main character. However, I still had that pull to keep reading and find out the conclusion, and found myself racing through the second half of the book
Amy delivers mystery and suspense through the chapters, and I enjoyed how Louise came across as somewhat of an unreliable narrator at times.
Snippets of mixed media in the form of annonomous email exchanges added to the mystry and allowed you to ponder on how them and another seemingly unconnected character would all fit in!
Overall, I'd say it was a "good" domestic thriller that does give some twists and turns towards the end.
3.5 🌟 rounded up to 4
Review of advance copy received from Publisher
Louise suffered with severe postnatal depression after having her son Alfie and not only has she struggled to bond with him but for three years now, she also struggled to get out and make friends for herself and Alfie. So when she finally ventures out and meets Harriet and Jacob at a local playgroup she suddenly feels she might have just turned a corner. But the happiness doesn’t last long as Louise starts to notice the most unusual details: the two boys share the same birthday, born at the same hospital and Jacob bears a strong resemblance to Louise’s husband. Louise also feels immediately drawn to little Jacob in a way she has never felt with Alfie… Louise starts to suspect that there is something very wrong here and the unease just intensifies as Harriet starts to act all strangely. But as Louise tries to confront the unthinkable, no one believes her!
This was such a great read! To see Louise grapple with the notion that her son may not be her biological child and what this may mean for everyone it affects. I loved the fact that throughout the book you just don’t know who to trust and how it will all unfold. A fab ending too! I’d definitely like to read more by this author.
This was such a great read! To see Louise grapple with the notion that her son may not be her biological child and what this may mean for everyone it affects. I loved the fact that throughout the book you just don’t know who to trust and how it will all unfold. A fab ending too! I’d definitely like to read more by this author.
Review of advance copy received from Publisher
Louise has struggled since giving birth to Alfie 3 years ago. She’s never felt that bond with him that she expected to have.
Now she meets Harriet and her son Jacob at a play group. Harriet seems to have everything together and Louise is thrilled to have made a friend. But then she starts to feel a bond with Jacob that she’s never felt with Alfie. And Jacob looks so much like her husband. Could it be that Jacob is her child and not Alfie?
This was such a page-turner, with a bit of a Freida McFadden vibe! With Louise’s history of depression, she’s an unreliable narrator and it’s hard to know whether her obsession with Jacob and Harriet is warranted or not. And Louise’s neighbour Drew gets more and more suspicious at the same time!
The story really picks up from halfway through, moving from unsettling to furious and impossible to put down. As Louise digs deeper into the past, I couldn’t turn the pages fast enough to get to the truth to with her!
The ending was brilliant - I did not see it coming and it just finished everything perfectly. I’ve not read anything by Amy before but will definitely read more!
Now she meets Harriet and her son Jacob at a play group. Harriet seems to have everything together and Louise is thrilled to have made a friend. But then she starts to feel a bond with Jacob that she’s never felt with Alfie. And Jacob looks so much like her husband. Could it be that Jacob is her child and not Alfie?
This was such a page-turner, with a bit of a Freida McFadden vibe! With Louise’s history of depression, she’s an unreliable narrator and it’s hard to know whether her obsession with Jacob and Harriet is warranted or not. And Louise’s neighbour Drew gets more and more suspicious at the same time!
The story really picks up from halfway through, moving from unsettling to furious and impossible to put down. As Louise digs deeper into the past, I couldn’t turn the pages fast enough to get to the truth to with her!
The ending was brilliant - I did not see it coming and it just finished everything perfectly. I’ve not read anything by Amy before but will definitely read more!
Review of advance copy received from Publisher
The other child
By Amy carver
✨️Out now✨️
WOW… I was not ready 😳
👀 The story follows a parent who begins to notice small, unsettling differences in their child—things that don’t quite add up. At first it’s easy to brush off… but then the doubts grow. Memories feel off, behaviors shift, and suddenly you’re left wondering: how well do we really know the people we love most?
💭 What I loved:
The suspense = chef’s kiss 🔥
Short, punchy chapters that keep you flipping pages
That slow-building dread that turns into full-on panic
😱 What got me:
The way the story messes with your perception. Just when you think you’ve figured it out… nope. That ending?? I’m still thinking about it.
perfect for thriller lovers who enjoy psychological twists and family secrets that unravel in the most unsettling ways.
Thank you so much to headline books & Amy for my gifted copy I throughly enjoyed it 💙
By Amy carver
✨️Out now✨️
WOW… I was not ready 😳
👀 The story follows a parent who begins to notice small, unsettling differences in their child—things that don’t quite add up. At first it’s easy to brush off… but then the doubts grow. Memories feel off, behaviors shift, and suddenly you’re left wondering: how well do we really know the people we love most?
💭 What I loved:
The suspense = chef’s kiss 🔥
Short, punchy chapters that keep you flipping pages
That slow-building dread that turns into full-on panic
😱 What got me:
The way the story messes with your perception. Just when you think you’ve figured it out… nope. That ending?? I’m still thinking about it.
perfect for thriller lovers who enjoy psychological twists and family secrets that unravel in the most unsettling ways.
Thank you so much to headline books & Amy for my gifted copy I throughly enjoyed it 💙
January 31, 2026
After suffering from Post Natal depression, Louise has struggled to bond with her son Alfie. She meets Harriet and her son Jacob at a playgroup and starts to wonder if it is more than the PND causing the distance between her and Alfie when she feels an instant bond with Jacob.
Born on the same day at the same hospital, could the boys have been swapped at birth?
This is a great psychological thriller with the reader not knowing if Louise is an unreliable narrator due to her PND or of the things she suspects are actually real.
I enjoyed the way the plot played out with lots of twists and couldn’t wait for the reveal.
Thanks to NetGalley and Headline for the advanced copy.
Born on the same day at the same hospital, could the boys have been swapped at birth?
This is a great psychological thriller with the reader not knowing if Louise is an unreliable narrator due to her PND or of the things she suspects are actually real.
I enjoyed the way the plot played out with lots of twists and couldn’t wait for the reveal.
Thanks to NetGalley and Headline for the advanced copy.
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
I really struggled with this book, unfortunately. I found it boring and it took me a long time to get through it. I found it a little repetitive at times, and I found myself just wanting to finish it. Which is a shame as it's a good premise but it wasn't written well.
Read
February 17, 2026A really good story, a child swap
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews